MY SISTER
Ablam

SPECIAL MENTION
Boston Turkish Festival's 15th Documentary & Short Film Competition (2020)

WATCH ONLINE

8 short films are included in this session:
8 Poems of Emigration, My Sister, I am Raining Down into the City, I Don't Want To Die Today, Ronaldo, Truth, The Heavy Burden

Directed by BURCU AYKAR

Short / 2019 / 23 min. / with English subtitles

Cast: Devrim Eylem Şeker, Defne Karagöz, Ayşe Ayça Yeniay, Çiğdem Aksüt, Gizem Taştan

Elif is 10 years old, her sister Ayşe is 13. It’s a sticky summer in 1980’s Istanbul. Elif freely plays on the street, finding still green areas left between construction sites. While trying to see her newly emerging breasts in the bathroom mirror, Ayşe falls, injures herself and spends the summer lying on the couch. Elif drives her sister mad, for reasons she can’t quite grasp. Irritated and depressed, Ayşe seems out of reach.

Selected Festivals and Awards

• Akbank Short Film Festival, Istanbul, Turkey (2019): Best Film
• Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival, Turkey (2019): Best Film
• Izmir Short Film Festival, Turkey (2019): Best Director, Best Actress, Best Editing, Best Second Film
• AFSAD Short Film Festival, Turkey (2019): Best Film

Director BURCU AYKAR

Burcu Aykar (1977, Istanbul) graduated from the Psychology department of Bosphorus University and got her master’s degree in Film Studies at the University of Southampton. She worked as an editor at the film magazine “Sinema.” She started her own company and worked as a film distributor of independent art house films for two years. She was the editor in chief of the magazine “Total Film Turkey” from 2006 to 2008. She co-wrote and co-directed two short films, “Birth” (2008) and “Death” (2009) with Uygar Şirin. Today she continues contributing to the monthly cinema magazine “Altyazı.”